When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to reveal itself—something dark and secretive that he couldn't put a name to. And then the psychological "games" began. This memoir from the author of Running with Scissors tells of his life before he went to live with his mother's psychiatrist; without the humor of the earlier book, this is a startling yet superbly written portrait of a relationship based on the longing for unconditional love.

"A searing, emotional portrait of a son who wants nothing more than the love his father will not grant him, Burroughs's latest memoir (after 2004's Dry) is indeed powerful.... Burroughs focuses on the years he lived both in awe and fear of his philosophy professor father in Amherst, Massachusetts. Despite frequent trips with his mother to escape his father's alcoholic rages, Burroughs was determined to win his father's affection, secretly touching the man's wallet and cigarettes and even going so far as to make a surrogate dad with pillows and discarded clothing.... Avoiding self-pity, Burroughs paints his father with unwavering honesty, forcing the reader to confront, as he did, a man who even on his deathbed, refused his son a hint of affection. His father missed so much, Burroughs muses, not knowing his son. Luckily, Burroughs does not deny the reader such an enormous pleasure."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)